By Linus O'Howell
It’s fair to say that the driver market heading into the 2024 Formula 1 season hasn’t been particually exciting as every team has so far stuck with their current drivers.
However, one seat remains and that one seat happens to be at Williams alongside Alex Albon. Because of this, I will go over a bunch of names/candidates and will give my verdict as to who I think Williams should sign to drive alongside Alex Albon in 2024 at the end. Now, let’s start with a man currently already driving for Williams in Formula 1.
📸 Albon is guaranteed his seat, but who takes a place next to him?
Logan Sargeant
Logan Sargeant is Williams current choice of second driver in Formula 1. The 22 year old American came to F1 with good lower formula pedigree having previously finished second in the 2016/17 Formula 4 UAE Championship, third in both the 2017 F4 British Championship and the 2020 FIA Formula 3 Championship.
It’s also worth mentioning that Sargeant was only 4 points away from winning the Formula 3 title back in 2020, finishing behind now McLaren driver Oscar Piastri and Alfa Romeo reserve driver and current F2 championship leader Theo Pourchaire.
📸 Piastri celebrates a win in Formula 3.
Sargeant was also pretty impressive in his one and only year in Formula 2, ending up fourth. So far in 2023, he's 20th in the championship in his rookie Formula 1 season and it’s fair to say that there are improvements to be made at this stage. Sargeant definetly needs a couple of really positive performances in the next few rounds if he’s going to keep hold of his place on the Formula 1 grid.
Liam Lawson
Lawson is a 21-year-old New Zealand racing driver who currently drives for Team Mugen in Super Formula and is also acting as a substitute driver for Alpha Tauri in Formula 1.
Lawson previously won both the 2016/17 NZ F1600 Championship Series (he won 14 of the 15 races) and the 2019 Toyota Racing Series and he’s also finished second in the championship in multiple categories including Australian and ADAC Formula 4 as well as DTM.
📸 Lawson has won on debut in multiple series including DTM and Formula 2.
So far in 2023, he's second in Super Formula with two races to go and he’s also 19th in the Formula 1 Driver Championship with 2 points to his name. Lawson’s been driving really well in Formula 1 since he stepped in at Zandvoort and it’s fair to say that a lot of people felt like Lawson deserved a fulltime seat with Alpha Tauri in 2024.
Felipe Drugovich
Felipe Drugovich is a 23-year-old Brazilian racing driver who currently operates as the Test and Reserve Driver for Aston Martin.
Felipe previously won the 2017/18 MRF Challenge Formula 2000 Championship, the 2018 Euroformula Open Championship as well as the 2022 FIA Formula 2 Championship.
Drugovich absolutely smashed the field in all of those Championships and it’s also worth mentioning that he finished third in the 2017 ADAC Formula 4 Championship where he was only 9 points off the title.
📸 'Drugo' celebrates his F2 title.
So far in 2023, Drugovich has sat on the sidelines and helped Aston Martin out in Formula 1, and he’s also driven for Maserati MSG in a couple of Formula E Rookie Tests. Drugovich is a talented racing driver and there’s no doubt that he deserves to be racing on track again in 2024.
Frederik Vesti
Frederik Vesti is a 21-year-old Danish racing driver who currently drives for PREMA Racing in FIA Formula 2. Vesti previously became the inaugural Formula Regional European Champion back in 2019 in dominant fashion and he also managed a second in the 2017 F4 Danish Championship although he did miss six races.
📸 Vesti is a Mercedes junior driver.
So far in 2023, Vesti is second in Formula 2 heading into the final round of the season in Abu Dhabi and he’s won five races along the way. It’s also worth mentioning that Vesti is a part of the Mercedes Junior Team and that’s quite important given that Mercedes have a strong partnership with Williams.
Jack Doohan
Jack Doohan is a 20-year-old Australian racing driver who currently drives for Invicta Virtuosi Racing in FIA Formula 2.
Doohan, despite his excellent pace, has never won a title before, but he did come second in both the 2019 and 2020 F3 Asian Championships before he finished second in the 2021 FIA Formula 3 Championship.
In 2023, Doohan is 4th in Formula 2 with 2 wins to his name after a slow start to the season. Doohan’s currently a member of the Alpine Academy and he may have to look elsewhere for a seat in Formula 1 as Alpine look set to run with Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly for the foreseeable future.
📸 Doohan had a slow start to his season but has improved fourth in the standings.
Jamie Chadwick
Jamie Chadwick is a 25-year-old British racing driver who is currently a member of the Williams Driver Academy. Jamie previously won the 2018/19 MRF Challenge Formula 2000 Championship and she’s also a 3-time W Series Champion.
So far in 2023, Chadwick finished 12th in Indy NXT with a best placed finish of 6th, and she’s also spent time as a Development Driver for Williams. Whilst Chadwick might be a long shot for a Williams seat in 2024, it would certainly be great to see a female driver in F1.
📸 After 3 W Series titles, Chadwick moved to America to race, could she be an outsider for the seat?
Final Verdict
After going over all 6 drivers, I firmly believe that Williams should sign Liam Lawson to drive alongside Alex Albon in the 2024 Formula 1 Season.
Lawson was already seen as quick driver, but his stock has risen significantly since impressing for Alpha Tauri this past month.
I don’t feel like either Doohan or Chadwick are the right options for Williams in 2024 whilst Frederik Vesti probably needs to win the Formula 2 title to really stand a chance.
Whilst Logan Sargeant might be at Williams right now, I can’t see how he would warrant another year at the team unless contract issues result in him being their only other option.
Drugovich is probably the driver that runs Liam Lawson the closest for me, but Williams need a driver alongside Albon that can guarantee results from the off and I think Lawson does that.
From a Williams point of view, partnering Lawson and Albon is a smart move given the pre-existing relationship the drivers had as teammates in DTM.
📸 Image credits: Indy NXT, Formula Motorsport Limited, Scuderia Alpha Tauri, Mercedes AMG F1 Team, Williams Racing.
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